Summit Church

In July of 2004 as he was reading and journaling, Jason Malone felt a prompting of the Holy Spirit to begin planting churches in the Upstate of SC. What was interesting about that prompting was the fact that it included multiple churches and a specific geographical region. Jason had always thought about planting a church, but never more than one and always with the hope that God would lead him to do it somewhere exotic like Hawaii or San Diego.

Jason began to pray and seek wise counsel about church planting and all that it would involve. He loved the church where he was serving including the great people and wonderful staff, and it was where he had spent all of his life in ministry up until that point. In March of 2005 as Jason was mowing his lawn and praying about the future and church planting, a song came on the radio called the Voice of Truth by Casting Crowns. The lyrics to that song encourage us to get off the boat of safety and conformability that we currently find ourselves in and join Jesus on the water. Even though there are waves and people will think you are crazy for jumping, there is a voice of truth - the voice of God - that tells us what we are doing is obedient and right.

Jason couldn't help but think how awesome it was that God would encourage his heart with a song about jumping onto the water with Him as he prayed about leaving a place he loved for the unknown. Throughout the next few months as he prayed regularly about church planting, that same song would come on the radio no matter where Jason was when he was praying. It happened so often that he began to journal about it every time it happened.

In the summer of 2005 as Jason had lunch with some friends, one of them asked how life was going. Jason proceeded to tell them that he thought God was directing him down a new path of church planting but that He was revealing it to him in a weird way. A friend who was with them that Jason had not seen in five years asked, "Have you been hearing a Casting Crowns song or something?" That was all it took; God definitely had Jason's attention!

Jason continued to pray and talk to friends and other church planters trying to gain perspective and insight. Those that were currently church planting encouraged him to follow God into this great adventure, but he was still skeptical. It seemed too risky, but the Holy Spirit continued prompting him to ask the hard questions of "Why church?" and "Why another church plant?" Soon after he began asking these questions, Jason met Dwight Smith and Jeff Shipman. These men changed his perspective on the purpose of the church, which was the final push out of the boat and onto the water.

These two men are church planters and have had the opportunity to plant missional and reproducible churches all around the world. When Jason met them for the first time, it immediately became clear that everything he had ever thought about the church was going to be turned on its head. They articulated things that he had always known in his heart and mind about God's church but didn't have the knowledge or experience to verbalize. Jason describes it as if someone was in his brain verbalizing what he had wanted to say for years. He left that meeting knowing he had no choice but to plant churches so that every man, woman and child would have the opportunity to see and hear the Gospel.

This is the heart of God - that His creation would have the repeated opportunity to see and hear of His love for them in Jesus. For this time in history, His vehicle for sharing that message is the Church, therefore we must plant and reproduce ourselves as much as possible for the sake of other people and for the ultimate glory of our Father.

In November of 2006, Jason resigned his position at his former church to follow God into reaching the Upstate of South Carolina with the Gospel through church planting. Right away God brought five other families along that wanted to be a part of planting Summit Church. As we began to meet and pray weekly about being a church for the sake of others, we met other families that had that same passion. By April there were too many of us to continue meeting in a home, so we leased a building in a business park called the Merovan Center on Woodruff Road. We have since moved to the Brookfield Business Park location off of E. Butler Road and Holland Road.

The great part about living on this earth is the opportunity to be a part of the story of God. We are asking God to allow us to join Him in the unveiling of His kingdom to those that call the Upstate of South Carolina home so that every man, woman and child will have the repeated opportunity to see and hear the life-transforming Gospel of Jesus without them coming or going anywhere. Please prayerfully consider joining us as we continue to plant new churches and partner with existing churches to see this mission become a reality in the Upstate.

Enjoy the Journey,

The Summit Team

Intentional Gatherings